EU Rural Policy’s Capacity to Facilitate a Just Sustainability Transition of the Rural Areas

Abstract

The sustainability transition of rural areas is a must due to rapid climate changes and biodiversity loss. Given the limited resources of rural communities, policy should facilitate a just sustainability transition of the EU rural areas. The analysis of EU development policies, past performance and the envisaged scope of reform, presented in this study point to a serious inconsistency between the declaration and implementation of relevant policies. Namely, the marginal role rural areas perform in common agricultural policy and cohesion policy; a result of the lack of a complex approach to rural development. The analysis was based on the concept of good governance and took a multi-level perspective. It advocates territorial justice as an approach that should be at the core of creating a comprehensive policy for rural areas in the EU, including their diversity and empowering local communities to choose the transition pathway that is most in line with their current situation and development capacity. This analysis fills a gap in research on the evolution of the rural development policy in the EU. This research can inform the reprioritization and intensification of efforts to create equitable policies for EU rural development.

Rural proofing entrepreneurship in two fields of research

“…The aim was to ensure the socio-economic, cultural, and environmental well-being of rural communities, such as access to basic services and a favorable climate for entrepreneurship (ENRD, 2018). Rural proofing should now be an integrated approach in economic development and is highly encouraged by the OECD (Wieliczko et al. , 2021).…”

“…The aim was to ensure the socio-economic, cultural, and environmental well-being of rural communities, such as access to basic services and a favorable climate for entrepreneurship (ENRD, 2018). Rural proofing should now be an integrated approach in economic development and is highly encouraged by the OECD (Wieliczko et al, 2021). A small number of academic studies have been published regarding rural proofing, scrutinizing the process in England and Northern Ireland (Atterton, 2008;Shortall and Alston, 2016;Sherry and Shortall, 2019).…”

“…Greater understanding is urgently needed since the role of rural areas and the rural/urban divide is changing rapidly at this time of global crisis (Hunt et al, 2021;Rodr ıguez-Pose, 2018). Contemporary research and policy are debating both the main purpose of supporting rural entrepreneurship (sustainability, community building, economic development) (EU, 2016;OECD, 2018;Wieliczko et al, 2021) and how to do so through, for example, expanded ecosystems (Clausen, 2020;Spigel and Harrison, 2018), government programs (Atterton, 2008;Siemens, 2015;Terluin, 2003) or other subsidies (OECD, 2018;Zografos, 2007).…”

The Impact of RDP Measures on the Rural Development: The Case of Romania

“…Initially constructed as a sectoral policy, the CAP currently has a stronger territorial vocation, allowing for possible convergences and overlaps with the objectives of the cohesion [21,22]. Wieliczko, Kurdy's-Kujawska, and Floria ńczyk [23] show that the rural policy does not only involve the second pillar of the CAP, but on the contrary, the rural policy is an integral part of several different policies. The latter do not necessarily involve rural development, but they include it amongst their concerns: the fishing policy, the economic and social policy, and the regional development policy (cohesion policy).…”

Long-Term Vision for Rural Development and Critical Enablers for Achieving It - Case of Mazowieckie Region (Poland)

“…The specific problems of the rural areas relate to their distance from urban growth centers. However, the dispersion of social and economic activity characterizes all types of rural areas (Stanny et al, 2021) and shapes the challenges related to sustainability transition (Wieliczko et al, 2021). The rural areas in the European Union need to be involved in the implementation of the European Green Deal which is the EU strategy for sustainability transition.…”